GUN What have I been up to?

About a month ago I got my first production sample from Blade-tech of the new training bolt I designed. I've put it through some testing in several rifles and have been very pleased with the way it turned out. Up until this point I had been testing prototypes built on a 3D rapid prototyper.

The concept was to make a way to safely use a live rifle in non-live fire training.

To get demo or training rifles I have seen some instructors pull bolt carrier groups out of guns and then use them. I have seen chamber flags used. I've seen "empty" airsoft. Worse yet, I've seen "empty" live guns used. Of course there's always blue or red long guns at $100+ a pop.

Each method above has an obvious down side. I wanted something inexpensive and portable that allowed the use of a stock rifle, but also completely precluded the use of live ammo in training.

Here are some pics of what I came up with:

You can still charge the rifle and dry fire. You can still use your optics, grips, sights, stocks, etc. It works on ARs with a barrel length up to 24 inches. The Training Bolt gives a bright yellow visual indicator at the ejection port as well as the end of the muzzle to clearly show in 360 degrees that the rifle has been converted for training. There is also very little risk of someone accidentally taking a converted training rifle on duty with them.

The Phantom holster looks large, but it carries nicely. I have one that I use for OWB carry. Raven also made me a special run of much thicker Kydex Phantoms that I use for training holsters. The holsters take a beating (literally) and keep on ticking.

The one thing to note about any Kydex holster is that where it flexes it will eventually crack. This is especially true of belt loops. It's a good idea to have a spare or two around so your holster isn't out of commission while you order a replacement loop. Or, just run rubber pull dots....

That's a pretty ingenious training tool. Any plans for an AK version, now that so many folks are running AK's in rifle classes?

Click to expand...

I know the original plan was to make them for the AK as well. I had a friend ship them an AK74 for measurements. It took forever to get the M4 mold cut and finished, so I have no idea how long it will be for AK bolts to be available.